Harold Camping's Death Will Not Change Family Radio, Says Spokesman

Harold Camping, president of Family Radio, fixes his mic as he prepares for a live radio broadcast on Monday, May 23, 2011. Camping delivered his first public statement on Monday since his failed prediction that the rapture would occur on May 21.

Family Radio, once led by controversial Bible teacher and doomsday predictor Harold Camping, will maintain the views and mission it had while the station president was alive, a spokesman stated.

Tom Evans, assistant general manager at Family Stations, Inc., told The Christian Post that Family Radio continues to "advocate" and "agree with" the views Camping held.

This includes the proposal that all institutional churches have gone apostate and that true believers should leave their congregations.

"Family Radio, the board of directors themselves, we advocate and do agree with that," said Evans, who added however that Family Radio will not stress the position in their broadcast.

Evans added that Family Radio "will not be altered or changed as a result of the death of Mr. Camping" regarding ministry matters. "We're going to continue to operate Family Stations as faithfully as we understand the Bible," said Evans, "the mission of Family Radio remains the same."

Last month, Camping died after having served many decades as president of Family Radio, which he co-founded. Camping garnered much controversy over his multiple failed doomsday prophecies, included End Time dates such as the year 1994, May 21, 2011, and finally October 21, 2011.

Eventually, Camping apologized for the failed prophecies and opted to cease making them. He also expressed a belief that, as part of the soon to arrive End Times, the institutional churches of all denominations had gone apostate and that the faithful should leave said churches.

S. Michael Houdmann, CEO of Gotquestions.org, was one of the many critics to Camping's views on the church and the End Times.

"Harold Camping has overlooked the very nature of the church. The church is inseparable from the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son. It is the body of Christ, with Christ as the Head," wrote Houdmann. "He has appointed elders and deacons to be undershepherds in His church, and He never identified a time when that structure would change. Right up until the rapture of the church, His plan for church government will remain."

Camping often defended these views on his live "Open Forum" program, which included anonymous listeners calling in and asking questions on a variety of issues pertaining to the Bible.

Since his death, Evans told CP, Family Radio's board has been working on a decision as to who will succeed Camping as president. When asked by CP if there will be a new "Open Forum" program, Evans said he was unsure, given his belief that Camping had an exceptional knowledge of the Bible.

"There's no one really qualified and I include myself in that. There's no one who has the biblical foundational understanding that Mr. Camping had," said Evans. "The board is working on a plan to provide –it may not be a live program but it will be some sort of mechanism by which the listeners can communicate and voice their questions."